JACQUES IBERT (1890-1962)

Divertissement

Jacques Ibert studied composition with Paul Vidal and Fauré at
the Paris Conservatoire before the Great War but his studies were
interrupted by mobilisation when he joined the French Navy. After
demobilisation in 1919 he won the coveted Prix de Rome for his cantata
La poète et la fée; whilst in Italy he produced
several important works and travelled extensively, returning to Rome
later in his career as director of the Académie de France,
a post he held until 1960.

It is very difficult to characterise Ibert's output because it is
extremely and designedly diverse. He believed that "all systems are
valid provided that one derives music from them"; "I want to be free -
independent of the prejudices which arbitrarily divide the defenders of
a certain tradition and the partisans of a certain avant garde".
He was therefore not a member of Les Six (Durey, Honegger, Milhaud,
Tailleferre, Auric, Poulenc) though his works are similar in style
and temperament to Milhaud and Poulenc, in particular in his lighter,
witty vein. Divertissement for chamber orchestra certainly
falls into this category.

This set of six movements, extracted in 1930 from the music for a
stage production of the musical comedy Un chapeau de paille d'ltalie,
should be taken with a very large pinch of salt. One of his lightest
and happiest works, it is full of gaiety, levity, sardonic humour, wit
and could not have been written anywhere other than France in the
twentieth century. Listen out for the humourous quotes - the Wedding
March from Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream appears in
the Cortège (to complement our coverage of the incidental
music in this year's programme!) and the Blue Danube makes an
appearance in the Valse. The Finale starts with random piano clusters
which sounds as if the player is sitting on the keyboard and closes
with an Offenbach-style can-can complete with whistle.

GERALD FINZI (1901-1965)

Five Bagatelles for Clarinet, with string accompaniment arranged by
Lawrence Ashmore (1989)

I. Prelude
II. Romance
III. Carol
IV. Forlana
V. Fughetta

Though his vocal works are quite well-known, Gerald Finzi's instrumental
and orchestral works, which amount to about a third of his output,
remain unjustly neglected. In his short life he produced a series of
miniature eloquent tone poems and two major concertos, one for cello
and orchestra (1956) and the Clarinet Concerto (1948-49), works which
display a distinctive voice of sensitivity, close melodically and
harmonically to Elgar and Vaughan Williams. His early life was
marred by a series of bereavements, of his father when he was eight,
of his three elder brothers and his first influential music teacher
in the Great War, and these events seem to have reinforced an already
essentially introspective nature. He moved to Painswick in Gloucestershire
in 1922 to seek inspiration from the countryside of Elgar and Vaughan
Williams, and there worked in isolation until 1925 when, on the advice
of Adrian Boult, he moved to London to take tuition in counterpoint.
Once in London he joined a circle of young musicians, meeting Holst
and Vaughan Williams, and it was at this time that he produced
some of his most original works.

Though he was Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music
between 1930 and 1933, he remained outside the musical establishment
and preferred to combine part-time composition with his career as
expert apple-grower. He settled with his family near Newbury and
in the early war years established the Newbury String Players.
Finzi was an indifferent pianist and did not sing, and so this
string orchestra became his personal means of expression, giving him
deep insights into, and an affinity with, the nuances of string
technique and texture. His distinctive string voice is particularly
well displayed in the Clarinet Concerto; many of the same characteristics
are prevalent in his Five Bagatelles for Clarinet and Piano,
excellently realised in this arrangement for string orchestra by
Lawrence Ashmore. Three of the Bagatelles - the Romance, Carol and Forlana -
were produced in a spurt of creative activity during 1941 along with
the Romance for String Orchestra. Realising that these pieces required
some introduction, he composed the Prelude during New Year 1942;
this, he later told Howard Ferguson, "has turned out to be rather larger
in scale, and more difficult, than the others and I only hope that
it's not outside the 'Bagatelle' radius". The Romance is in the key of
E flat, the same key as the String Romance, associated in Finzi's
music with a particular "mellowness of sonority and figuration or with
romance and memory" (Stephen Banfield). Finzi's publisher recognised
the need for a finale and the Fughetta was squeezed out of the composer
somewhat reluctantly in 1943. The Bagatelles are staple wind repertoire
fare on the examination and competition circuit and Finzi himself
described them as mere "trifles" but Finzi's biographer Banfield
recognises them as "top-drawer Finzi".

EDWARD ELGAR (1857-1934)

Two Dream Interludes from Falstaff, Op. 68

I. Shallow's Orchard (Gloucestershire)
II. Jack Falstaff

It seems somehow appropriate to follow the pastoral vision of a
passionate apple-grower with Elgar's quintessentially English
portrait of a West Country orchard! These two self-contained
interludes from Falstaff are amongst Elgar's best miniatures
and have been recognised by Michael Kennedy as the finest parts of
the score, "indeed they are among the finest parts of Elgar".

When asked to produce a work for the 1913 Leeds Festival, Elgar
decided to convert some sketches of 1902-03 into a portrait of Falstaff.
Elgar's subject is no flatulent rake but rather a convivial rascal of
faded nobility, his literary sources being Shakespeare's Henry IV
and Henry V rather than the Merry Wives of Windsor.
As Elgar commented to Ernest Newman, "Falstaff (as the programme says)
is the name but Shakespeare - the whole of human life - is the theme";
his vision of Falstaff is close to that described by Maurice Morgann (1777):
"in a green old age, mellow, frank, gay, easy, corpulent, loose,
unprincipled, and luxurious". In producing a portrait of an almost
tragic figure in C minor, Elgar depicts an individual "who uncannily
resembles Elgar himself! Elgar's Falstaff yearns nostalgically for
his days in the Wand of Youth when he was page to the Duke of Norfolk...
he is more likely to idealize the women in the Boar's Head than pinch
their bottoms" (Michael Kennedy). Elgar's music is universally devoid
of bawdy or erotic intent and his chaste instincts, imbued by the
Victorian world in which he grew up, are to the fore in these two
interludes which describe the scenes of Falstaff's slumbers, visions
of "innocence regained" first in a dream of youth and then in a country
orchard.

Shallow's Orchard juxtaposes a rustic tabor and pipe tune with
a sleepy central theme which reflects the peace of the countryside
and which was one of the first thematic ideas composed by Elgar as
he started work on Falstaff. In Jack Falstaff, the
typically nostalgic Elgar expands Shakespeare's single line "He was
page to the Duke of Norfolk" into a retrospective dream-picture which
had no equivalent in the plays. A solo violin here inhabits the same
world as the slow movement of the Violin Concerto; he described this
interlude as "simple in form and somewhat antiquated in mood, it
suggests in its strong contrast to the immediately preceding riot
'what might have been'" - in quoting words from Charles Lamb's
Dream Children, Elgar transfigured "an old man's vulgarity...
in a dream of the childhood fairyland still glimmering beyond the
stream of time" (Jerrold Northrop Moore).

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791)

Maurische Trauermusik, K.477

Piano Concerto No.17 in G, K.453

I. Allegro
II. Andante
III. Allegretto - Presto

These two works were composed in the years 1784-85, after Mozart
had moved from Salzburg to Vienna, and coincided with one of the
happier and more settled periods in a life marred by tragedy and
insecurity. Mozart and Constanze Weber were married during August
1782 and, after much pestering by Mozart's father Leopold, the
following year the couple undertook an extended visit back to Salzburg;
part of Mozart's reluctance to undertake the trip can be attributed to
his fear of being arrested by the Archbishop, from whose employ he had
acrimoniously departed during 1781. Leopold was not wholly happy with
the marriage but the visit at least gave him an opportunity to meet
his new daughter-in-law. Contemporary correspondence suggests that this
was not a happy visit. Constanze had given birth to their first child
a few weeks prior to the visit and, extraordinary as it seems from a
modern perspective, the couple had left their son in Vienna during
which time he died. Once back in Vienna, Mozart resumed his normal
teaching duties, which yielded a regular income, and settled into
composition and performance. The phase between 1783 and 1784 was
one of the busiest and most successful of Mozart's career and was
devoid of significant trauma.

Most of Mozart's piano concertos from this period were written for the
concerts for which he was engaged and in which he would have been
soloist. However, the G major concerto K.453 was written for Barbara
Ployer and is technically somewhat less demanding than the two
preceding concertos, K.450 in B flat and K.451 in D. The elaborate use
of wind instruments in the K.453 concerto is particularly noteworthy,
most of the principal thematic material being entrusted to them in the
first movement. The Andante is characterised by distant, dramatic
modulations and richly scored woodwind writing, whilst the finale is a
set of mostly double variations based on a theme close to one Mozart
noted in his commonplace book as sung by his pet starling. This
concerto is widely regarded as one of Mozart's finest; in Hutchings'
survey of the piano concertos he writes that this is "one of those
few ... in the series wherein each of the three movements reaches a
supreme level of excellence". He regards the slow movement as one
of the best three in all Mozart and comments that the "peculiar
presto [of the finale] is calculated to give perfect satisfaction and
to extort applause from the most disapproving sobersides"!

In August 1784 Mozart fell seriously ill and appears to have been
close to death. He composed nothing until the end of the year when the
darkness and gloom lifted. It was around this time that he became a
freemason and thereby initiated was to become an important element in
his life and influence on his compositions, culminating in The Magic
Flute. In the Zur Wohlth%auml;tigkeit lodge, later
amalgamated into Zur gekrönten Hoffnung, liberal
intellectuals would meet to discuss the
philosophical ideas of the Enlightenment, including Nature, Reason and
the brotherhood of Man, rather than any overtly political
ideals. Although there was tension between the Catholic Church and
freemasonry at this time, there is no question that this particular
organisation was anti-Church and membership had no special
implications for Mozart's personal faith.

Many works by Mozart dating from this period include elaborate parts
for clarinet and basset horn; some of these were for ritual masonic
use, as in the Maurerische Trauermusik, which uses three bassets and a
single clarinet. Certainly the use of wind instruments was important
at lodge ceremonies where clarinets were referred to as "columns of
harmony". Other masonic influences include key; many of Mozart's
masonic works are in E flat or the relative minor, C minor (as in the
Maurerische Trauermusik), keys with three flats, the number three
having particular mystical significance in freemasonry. C minor was
the key associated with darkness, resolving into C major to signify
the journey from dark to light, as at the end of the Trauermusik. The
music was composed in July 1785 to commemorate the death of two
masons, Count Esterhazy and Count Mecklenburg. It cannot have been
used at their funeral since their death occurred the previous
November; it was probably used at a commemorative ritual celebrating
death and resurrection, hence the transition from dark to light, minor
to major. Other masonic symbols include the parallel thirds and
sixths, the slurs and the knocking rhythm. The Cantus Firmus, based on
a Protestant psalm-tune itself derived from an ancient Jewish melody,
symbolises the unity of all religions, a fundamental masonic belief.

FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)

Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night's Dream

The Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream is not only Mendelssohn's
most popular work, it is also the most original and mature composition
to have come from the pen of a seventeen-year old and, along with the
Octet (Op.20) for strings, demonstrates Mendelssohn's extraordinary
precocity. It is also worth remembering that the work, which includes
harmonic and orchestral effects of stunning imagination, was completed
in 1826 whilst Beethoven was still alive. Even more surprising is the
maturity and breadth of vision that Mendelssohn was able to draw from
Shakespeare's text whilst still only a teenager. But then,
Mendelssohn's home environment was hardly the norm; the Mendelssohn
household was the most important cultural salon in Berlin. It was the
centre of an intellectual, artistic, upper middle class circle in
which theatrical performances, literary readings and Sunday concerts
drew in the Berlin glitterati. The decisive influences on the
Mendelssohn circle were the writings of Jean Paul, the poetry of
Goethe and the Schlegel translations of Shakespeare; by the time he
was seventeen Mendelssohn would have been completely familiar with A
Midsummer Night's Dream and immersed in its atmosphere and musical
potential; as Fanny, Mendelssohn's sister, later commented, "we
were really brought up on the Midsummer Night's Dream and Felix
especially had made it his own".

Despite continuing as conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra,
during 1841 Mendelssohn was secured by the new King of Prussia,
Friedrich Wilhelm IV, to head a new conservatory and concert
organisation as part of the Berlin Academy of Arts. His duties were at
first ill-defined, but in 1843 he was entrusted with the direction of
the newly-formed male-voice cathedral choir and of the 1843-44 series
of symphony concerts given by the opera orchestra. The King also
requested the revivification of a series of dramatic productions with
incidental music, and for this Mendelssohn produced the numbers for A
Midsummer Night's Dream, adding to the Overture completed seventeen
years earlier. The first public performance in the Berlin
Schauspielhaus was an overwhelming success.

In the Overture Mendelssohn adopts an essentially leitmotiv approach to
characterise different dramatic levels. These became more explicit once he
had completed the remaining 13 numbers of the incidental music in 1842
because here he included verbal interjections within the music whilst
drawing on the thematic substance of the Overture. For instance, the
magical opening chords of the Overture signify the entry of Oberon and
Titania, while the ensuing upper string gossamer quaver passages signify
their subordinate spirits, elves and fairies. This is interrupted by
resounding horns signifying Duke Theseus's hunting party. The lyrical
second subject portrays Hermia and Helena and a climax is reached with the
vigorous Bergomask Dance of the 'mechanicals'. The development takes the
audience deeper into the darkening forest and ends with a warmly
expressive section depicting Hermia as she sinks to sleep, exhausted. The
Intermezzo expresses Hermia's grief as she loses herself in the wood
whilst searching for Lysander. The Nocturne accompanies the section in
which the two pairs of lovers (Hermia-Lysander; Helena-Demetrius) are
asleep in the forest. Four of the 13 incidental numbers are included in
this performance, commencing with the Dance of the Clowns, and these will
be followed by the Overture.

Programme notes by James Scourse

The Somerset Chamber Orchestra

This is the twenty-first series of summer concerts to be given by the
Somerset Chamber Orchestra. The Orchestra was founded in 1979 by its
current director, James Scourse, along with a number of friends all of
whom had been members of the Somerset Youth Orchestra. Back in 1979
the orchestra consisted of fourteen string players, but since then the
group has grown into a full orchestra of between thirty-five and fifty
players who meet for a week every summer. This year, as in the years
1991-1996, the orchestra will be rehearsing at Brymore School near
Cannington and the Orchestra would like to thank the Headmaster,
Mr T. Pierce, and the staff of the School, most warmly for making
their facilities available to us.

Both James Scourse and Jane Carwardine
attended schools in Wells - James
at the Blue School and Jane at the Cathedral School. Whilst at the
Blue School James decided to pursue music not as a profession but as a
major extracurricular activity; he took an MA at Oxford, and a Ph.D.
at Cambridge (where he was first a graduate member of St.John's College
and then Fellow of Girton College). He is now Senior Lecturer in Marine
Geology in the School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales (Bangor),
but performs regularly as a semi-professional 'cellist with a variety
of groups in North Wales.

Jane graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London
after leaving Wells. At the Guildhall she studied under David Takeno,
and won a number of prizes including the Birdie Warshaw Prize for
Unaccompanised Bach and the Noel Millidge Prize for her performance of
the Beethoven Violin Concerto. She was a founder-member, and remains
principal second violin, of the internationally-acclaimed Guildhall
String Ensemble with whom she has performed all over the world, including
broadcasts on BBC Radio 3, regular performances on the South Bank in
London and recordings with RCA. Jane is also a member of the City of
London Sinfonia and the Kandinsky String Quartet, and has freelanced
with many of the London-based chamber orchestras, including the Academy
of St.Martin's-in-the-Fields and the London Mozart Players. Jane was
leader of the Somerset Chamber Orchestra (then called the Somerset
Chamber Ensemble) from its inception until 1982, and has featured as
soloist with the Orchestra in the Bach Double Violin Concerto (1981),
the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante (1982), The Lark Ascending
by Vaughan Williams (1984) and the Bruch Violin Concerto (1988). She returned
as leader in the anniversary twentieth series last year and we are delighted
that she is able to lead again this year.

Soloists

RICHARD KIPPEN (Clarinet)

Richard Kippen has been principal clarinettist with the Somerset Chamber
Orchestra since 1986 and has featured as soloist in the clarinet concertos
by Mozart (1989) and Gerald Finzi (1997). He is a graduate of the University
of Birmingham and studied as a postgraduate at the Royal Academy of Music.
He has worked widely as a freelance musician, working with groups as diverse
as the Scottish National Orchestra, Opera North and the Northern Sinfonia.
In 1989 he joined the Leeds Wind Quintet, since when he has appeared widely
in the north of England, featuring as soloist with a number of groups. He
continues to teach as part of the Leeds Music Support Service and tutors
woodwind in the City of Leeds Youth Orchestra.

NICHOLAS TOLLER (Piano)

Nicholas Toller is a senior music lecturer at Anglia University in
Cambridge, where he has a wide range of academic and practical duties.
Ten years ago he completed his Ph.D. on expressive purpose in Schubert
under the supervision of Professor Brian Newbould, and this work has
now led to a broader interest in the creative process from Mozart to
the present day. He has made an extensive study of composers' sketches
both in England and abroad. As a performer he divides his time between
playing the piano, violin and conducting. During the last two decades
he has been soloist in several of Mozart's piano concertos, often with
the K.239 Chamber Orchestra in Cambridge, and he is also active as a
recital accompanist. He plays violin in the Cambridge Philharmonic
Orchestra, Sinfonia of Cambridge and Somerset Chamber Orchestra, and
conducts the Anglia Symphony Orchestra regularly. In 1996 he became an
examiner for the Associated Board.